Can beef be more sustainable?

Today, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and stakeholders from across the beef system announced a Global Conference on Sustainable Beef, to be hosted in Denver, Colorado, U.S. November 1-3, 2010. The conference is a forum to address both positive and negative impacts of beef production, to continuously improve sustainability to protect biodiversity, contribute to clean air and water, and manage carbon/greenhouse gases.

Why is McDonald's a lead sponsor of this conference? Because beef can be more sustainable, and all parts of the beef value chain need to be part of the solution, including food retailers like McDonald's.

The conference will provide the forum for constructive dialogue around environmental sustainability of beef production where participants will share better management practices for continuous improvement, and help identify opportunities to move the industry forward. The conference is centered on three pillars of work

#1 Science and Research

I have read many things about beef and sustainability over past years, most of which has not been positive, including assertions that beef production has large carbon and water footprints.

When I study further, I see numbers that range from beef contributing as high as 17-20% toward greenhouse gas emissions, to a low of 3%. We need to review the science and take an objective look at the issues and potential solutions and base our decisions (and judgments) based on facts.

#2 Better Management Practices

Whatever the environmental impacts are, what "we" need to do is reduce these impacts.  It is a collective "we." From farm to fork, there are better practices that are already delivering positive, tangible results that can be further developed and scaled.  McDonald's Europe is one example of a company helping to lead in a very practical way by supporting a three-year study involving more than 300 beef farms in the UK. 

The overall aim is to reduce the carbon footprint of beef production.  When we leverage the best thinking of all stakeholders - industry leaders, experts and NGOs - the prospects for continuous improvement are huge.

#3 Dialogue

Getting consensus on these issues is complicated, but we need to engage in more robust discussion with all relevant stakeholders and establish common ground to find ways to make beef more sustainable in the future. I vividly remember something Jason Clay, Vice President, Market Transformation, World Wildlife Fund, said, whilst presenting at a conference I attended more than a year ago.  "Sustainability should not be a consumer choice."  I couldn't agree more, and this applies to beef. In a world with food insecurity, everyone in the business will be held more accountable. On a finite planet sustainability is a 'pre-competitive condition'.

The global conference on sustainable beef is a first step for the beef industry, to offer products that safeguard the Earth's biodiversity wealth and contribute to sustainable development.

-Bob